Principle 3 – Distribution
The apprentice was now feeling confident. He was backing up ALL his data, and backing it up as he worked. He approached the Master and asked, “Master, now that I am consistently backing up all my files, have I reached backup awareness?”
“Young grasshopper,” the Master instructed. “You have learned well to backup all of your files, and have been mindful to continuously protect your work, but you cannot achieve Zen until you distribute your backups far and wide. Does the gossipmonger keep her secrets to herself? So long as your backups are in one place, they are subject to the whims of fortune.”
The apprentice ignored the Master’s advice, as he presumed his backup was stored safely in the Master’s training temple; but a powerful storm descended in the night and blew away the temple and all its contents. The apprentice was frantic, “Master the storm has destroyed my computer and all my backups. What am I to do?
“Do not despair,” the Master comforted the apprentice, “for yesterday I added all the files in the training temple systems to our online backup which distributes the files far and wide way beyond the reach of the storm and other potential chaos.”
Lesson to Learn: Keep Backups Offsite